Friday, May 13, 2011

Helpful Tool To Increase Your Income

Besides robbing a bank, the fastest (and legal) way to pay down debt is to raise your income. I know what you are saying to yourself. Dos, thanks for the tip. Your wisdom is like that of Solomon. I realize there is a recession going on (allegedley) but what does that have to do with you and improving your situation financially? One of my mentors Darren Hardy once told me that formal education (school) would make you a living, but self education will make you wealthy. We are seeing this scenario being played out every day right now. People are scrambling to go back to school but the problem is everyone is doing it. There is a heap of over educated people flooding the market that all learned the same stuff, from the same people, at the same places. Oh thats right, we are supposed to be talking about increasing your income. By self educating every day you will increase your income! I know you think you don't have time because this is what I said as well. But, you do have time, you just have to make a choice to start.

Decide what you want to improve on professionally

Go to iTunes which has podcasts and iTunes U, Google, and Amazon and start researching for what you have decided to improve on.

Cut out an hour of TV watching a day or some other meaningless task.

Wake up 30 minutes earlier.

Listen to podcasts/audio books in your car on your drive to work.

By using the tools you found in step two, you will find more information on the topic you wish to improve on to last you a lifetime. Take that 120 minutes a day and listen to, read about, and think about how you can put that information into use where you work. For example, one of the podcasts I listen to is The Advanced Selling Podcast because I want to get better at the act of selling to my customers. Not only can their show be downloaded for free but the site also has a ton of useful Ebooks and downloads as well. I have learned to treat every customer like they are my last and only customer - finding out what the customer needs now and five years down the road. I have gone from someone that is selling to them, to someone that they want to hear input from. You will be amazed at the way you start to look at challenges in your current place of employment. These challenges won't look like bad things but instead will start to look like opportunities where you can put your new found undercover knowledge to work (it is undercover because everyone else is getting a formal education). If you follow the plan everyday, five days a week, by the end of the year you will have studied 31,200 minutes and pretty much become an expert in whatever it is you do. This expertise will make you stand out and become more valuable within your job or help you to find a new job, or even start your own business. Become an expert and the money will follow.